854: Fireworks | Skeptical Sunday

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1:06Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger, and this is Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of the Jordan Harbinger Show, where fact checker and comedian David C. Smalley and I break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. Topics such as why the Olympics are kind of a sham, why food expiration dates are total nonsense, why tipping makes absolutely no sense, recycling, banned foods, toothpaste, chemtrails, and a whole lot more. Normally on the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you.

1:40We have long-form interviews and conversations with a variety of amazing folks from spies to CEOs, athletes to authors, thinkers to performers. If you're new to the show or you want to tell your friends about the show, I suggest our episode starter packs as a place to begin. These are collections of our favorite episodes organized by topic that'll help new listeners get a taste of everything we do here on this show. Skeptical Sundays included in those playlists, of course, persuasion, influence, disinformation, cyber warfare, crime and cults, and more. Just visit jordanharbinger.com slash start or take a look in your Spotify app to get started.

2:11By the way, if you use the Stitcher app to listen to the show, they are getting rid of that app. August 29th, it will no longer be useful. So switch to a different app if you use the Stitcher app to listen to this podcast. If you're on Android, I suggest Podcast Addict. It might not be as pretty, but it works really well. If you're on iOS, Apple, you should use Overcast, in my humble opinion, or Apple Podcasts. But definitely no longer Stitcher. It will not update anymore in the next couple of months. So if you're using the Stitcher app, now's a good time to switch to a new podcast app. And if you have any problems with this, you're kind of boomer in terms of your tech, you don't know what to do, you can always email me jordan at jordanharbinger.com.

2:50I will try to point you in the right direction, but the Stitcher app will no longer work for this show. Now today, the fireworks industry netted$2.2 billion in 2021. Billion. In 2020, when the pandemic was on and nobody was really gathering or even celebrating much of anything, the fireworks industry netted$1.9 billion. Talk about recession-proof. As always, where there's money, there's a powerful lobby. You might even say where there's smoke, there's fire, David. The American Pyrotechnics Association generates their fortune by presenting a loss of fireworks as a loss of American history, loss of tradition, a loss of freedom.

3:24But what's the point of fireworks, really? Why do we turn away from fireworks' negative effects on the environment, among other drawbacks, and insist on looking up at explosions to celebrate Independence Day, a baseball game, a day at an amusement park? Are fireworks a necessary part of patriotism along with flags and guns. On this Skeptical Sunday, let's bang out the facts with comedian David C. Smalley. Thanks, Jordan. This one, this topic's gonna be fire. Oh, indeed. Okay. Tell me what are the pros and cons of fireworks. That's my first question. Just lazy. Wind you up and go. All right. Yeah, yeah.

4:00So look, I realize by now people know I'm here to ruin their good times, right? I'm the Debbie Downer of the podcast world. I just won't let people have a good time. Correct. I mean, you don't have to answer that so quickly, but okay. Oh, sorry. Correct. Okay, Jordan. Look, fireworks are fun, right? I mean, it's cool to watch things blow up. Word. But as for your pros and cons question, all right, look, the reality is the cons are extensive. Fireworks damage property. They pollute the environment and quite literally blow off fingers. Like, it's a problem. And there are more incidents every year than you can count on both hands, especially if you use fireworks.

4:46So how often does somebody actually blow off a finger? Like, off? Yeah, so according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, firework injuries are actually up 25 % in the last 15 years. So it's definitely gotten worse over time. And in 2020, maybe because we were all just at home doing this ourselves, it actually spiked. It was 15 ,600 people being sent to the emergency room. And 31 % of those emergency room visits are classified as hands or fingers. So I don't think they count the number of fingers that are blown off. Ah, too bad. But it's about 4 ,800 people per year have hand or finger injuries due to fireworks.

5:30You know, this makes sense. And when we were creating this episode, I was thinking like, okay, how many people are blowing their hands up? Nobody's even celebrating anything. And during the pandemic, right? But here's the thing. I realize now when I was growing up, I had a cottage up north and I would go out there and there's kind of like, we affectionately refer to our neighbors as rednecks. They were nice people and they played with fireworks a whole lot. There wasn't a home theater where you could go in their house and sit down and watch a bunch of really nice movies most of the time. You really just went outside and drank beer and shot guns and fireworks.

6:00So if people didn't have to go to work then, and there were things were slowing down, these people didn't just go into their room and play Xbox. They went out and did more fireworks. So it doesn't surprise me at all that the 4th of July and the gatherings all sort of went down, but fireworks injuries and revenues basically stayed the same. Yeah. You don't have to tell me I was raised in Texas. That's what I figured. Literally blowing stuff up or just going shooting. One of the most common pastimes. Yeah. And by God, I don't mean shooting is a redneck thing. I just mean shooting things off your porch is, and there's a lot of that.

6:32Yeah. So for sure, I've definitely seen some nasty firecracker hands in my day as well. I actually wonder what else gets injured most of the time. I've seen blood blisters on hands from oops, I didn't realize I had to let that go or I tried to, but my fingers were sticky from the ribs, that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm assuming hearing, ear damage has got to be up there as well. Maybe the backs of heads as people are running away from the giant homemade firework you created in your backyard. Yeah, so I actually thought the same thing when I first pulled up this chart and I was looking at the sort of breakdown on the body.

7:05It shows the percentages. Hearing and ears specifically are actually on the lower end. the way they classify it is 21 % to the head, face, or ears, and then 14 % to the eyes, and then 34 % other body parts. But if you count the eyes as part of the face, it's kind of evenly distributed. It's about 30 % to 35 % per part of the body, kind of. I mean, just the phrase other body parts gives me a little bit of a shudder. Not going to lie. Yeah, I don't think we want to know the details. No. And specifics, and definitely no photos. You taped a what to your what, sir? Just make it stop the pain. You inserted a what into where?

7:45Yeah, exactly. Yeah, an absolute nightmare. And keep in mind, these are just emergency room visits. I feel like I've told this story before on this show, but someone, they call them, I think, jumping jacks? The ones that skip and sort of make a loud hissing noise and they just kind of skip across the ground. Someone threw one of those at me when I was about eight years old. This guy was a full-grown man. He thought it would be funny to skip it toward me. I was an idiot, and I just fell down and covered up because I thought it was going to bounce. So I covered up. It hit my head, set my hair on fire.

8:19Oh, my gosh. And I had hairspray in my hair. I was a little kid. I used to spike my hair up, set my hair on fire, and we were at a lake, and I went headfirst into the lake to put the fire out, and I couldn't swim. Wow. So at eight years old, I was literally on fire and nearly drowned all within about 30 seconds. This is like a law school hypothetical. Who's responsible and how much are they responsible when the boy just was doing this and then did this and then did this and then did this and then dot, dot, dot. He died. It's like, oh, it's called foreseeable consequences. Anyway, it really is like a hypothetical.

8:53Well, but guess what? No emergency room visit. Sure. So as traumatic as that was for me, that's not even in the stats. You know, so how many rednecks do we know are going to have a giant scar on their hand and go, oh, fireworks event, 1989. I mean, they're going to do that because they never went to the emergency room. It's definitely going to be worse than the statistics show. That's true. You go when you're like, I slipped in the bathtub, okay? That's how it happened. Right. So in Torrance, California, in July of 22, just this past year, a 12-year-old girl actually blew off every finger on her left hand.

9:26Oh my God, that's terrible. Ugh. I feel like there's a hundred different types of situations that could lead to something like this. The LA Times covered this one specifically. And in this instance, what happened was another kid in the neighborhood, the article says he found it, but he gave it to her and told her it was a smoke bomb. So she thought it was going to sizzle and let out all this colorful smoke. Oh, no. So she held on to it, thinking she was going to be able to play with it, and she lit it with a sparkler. Turns out it was an M80. Oh, my God. and it popped and it took every finger off her hand.

10:02So sad. That is truly horrible. So she wasn't even necessarily negligent. Somebody tricked her. She might've been a little negligent, but somebody tricked her, whether the kid meant to or not, he might've got it from an adult. Also, M80s, those are illegal literally since the 60s. No exaggeration. I mean, there's a law, I think it was 1965. But then again, that didn't stop me when I was a kid either. I played with those. They were no doubt manufactured and sold illegally. and you just got to ask where the hell are the parents in this situation? I thought the exact same thing. So as far as the legality, the New Hampshire Department of Safety says this on their website, and I'm quoting, Illegally manufactured explosive devices are frequently referred to as fireworks because of their resemblance to a large firecracker.

10:45These items are commonly known as M80s, M100s, M250s, and M500s. I think that just depends on the size. Cherry bombs Quarter sticks And even blockbusters These devices And others of like construction Are federally banned explosive devices And should never be referred to as fireworks Well when you put it that way Right I've never even thought to not call them that No It's an interesting thing It's not a little Firework sounds like something we can control It's a thing that we do No Like worst case you get your hair lit on fire That's it And then you jump in a lake And you can't swim And you jump in a lake and almost die Right And then constantly have panic attacks around fireworks as an adult.

11:25Long story. No, I actually don't have panic attacks. What'll happen is I get highly agitated. Oh, I thought maybe you curl up in a little ball and look for the nearest water source. It's quite the opposite. I, like, literally want to fight people. The guy that's having a good time, come on, let's shoot off the bottle rocket. I'm like, I better leave before I go to jail. You have PTSD, man. I do. It is. But my response is, like, not to run. It's the fight part of that fight or flight response. Right, it's the fight part of flight or fight, yeah. This is a different website, americanpyro.com. Great domain.

11:58Yeah, perfect, right? Cherry bombs, silver salutes, and M-80s have been banned by federal law since 1966 because of large amounts of explosive composition they contain. And if you find any of these items, do not touch them. Immediately call your local police or fire. If you are aware of someone selling these illegal and dangerous items, contact the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms immediately at 1-888-ATF-BOMB. So yeah, they're pretty damn illegal. So people are just out here, posted up on the side of the road, selling federally banned explosives, and we're just like, America, thanks, America.

12:36Merck! 1999 for 12, hell yeah. Apparently. And as far as where the hell are the parents, that crossed my mind as well, and it does seem to be a good question. So the details I gathered from the article was it wasn't like an event she was at. She wasn't like at a fireworks thing. And the mother was actually inside folding laundry as her kids were outside playing. And she had no idea they even had access to fireworks. At least that's what she said. And this happened the day after the July 4th celebration. And by the way, one of the documents I did link to where we talk about the injuries, it says on there that 74 percent of all firework injuries or accidents happen like the week of july 4th it's right before or right after and i've never even thought about after you know but if you think about it july 5th and 6th every now and then you'll hear a loud boom or a pop somebody is like oh i found another thing let's go blow it up yeah i was so drunk the other night i didn't finish lighting them off that's what was that was what it was up north in michigan it was like they were just so drunk there was a bunch left or like all the garbage piles have some unopened bags on top or if you're me you stashed a few bags while all the adults were passed out on the lawn and then the next day you go blow stuff up yeah i'm like sweet well i know what i'm doing tomorrow so basically that's what happened is a day after and it's unclear from the article if the mom knew about this but she also had a sparkler so the girl goes outside just to have a sparkler sure she's apparently playing with this sparkler and then this other kid comes up and hands her what he calls a smoke bomb and that's how she ended up lighting it with the actual spark sure yeah and it blew up now we'd all like to think oh that would never be us my kids would never do that my kids know better but if you're a parent you know you can't watch them all the time and you can teach them to be safe you know but you're not always going to be there to force them to be safe So part of being a parent is teaching your kids the best and hoping they learn something the easy way instead of the hard way.

14:35True, dude. And at 12, you get a lot of time away from mom and dad. So that's a really unfortunate incident that they're going to have to live with for the rest of their lives. I bet you can't wait to get one of your fingerless hands on one of these great deals from the fine products and services that support this show. This episode is sponsored in part by Vital Proteins. You've probably heard of Vital Proteins. They're the number one brand of collagen peptides in the U.S. and for good reason. A lot of people, myself included, take it pretty much daily to support things like healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, joints, all the good stuff.

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16:31This episode is sponsored in part by The Gist Podcast. If you're looking for a news podcast that is smart, unfiltered, and doesn't just echo whatever side you already agree with, check out The Gist with my friend Mike Peska. Mike's been doing this longer than just about anyone. It's actually the longest-running daily news podcast. It's earned that spot on Apple's top charts for a reason. Each episode's around 30 minutes, so it's perfect for your commute or while you're making breakfast. It's always packed with sharp, thought-provoking takes. What I love about the gist is that it's not stuck in a partisan box.

16:57Mike, he's a really smart dude. He digs into real questions, the kind that most shows avoid because they don't fit neatly into a political lane. He'll challenge the right. He keeps the left honest. He dives into stuff like the New York City mayoral race, that whole cluster, and the chaos of sports betting, or even whether talking to your plants actually does anything. He's an award-winning journalist. He's not some schmo like me who's totally unqualified. You've probably seen his work in the Atlantic, the Free Press, the Washington Post. He's got that rare mix of wit, skepticism, and depth that makes even heavy topics fun to listen to.

17:25And he's a great dinner guest, just saying. So if you want your daily news with more brains and less noise, check out The Gist with Mike Peska every weekday on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be right back. And now, back to the show. Do you know, can they find and reattach fingers? I feel like they can do that. Didn't they reattach what's-his-face's Wang, John Wayne Bobbitt? I mean, they must be able to reattach a finger. It seems like a simpler device. I'm assuming, though, with something like the explosion caused by an M80, which is a military-grade explosive device, again, something I used to play with a lot as a kid, actually, even though they were federally illegal for civilian use, speaking of negligent parenting, maybe they can't because the fingers are 100 yards away and in 100 pieces each.

18:07A lot of times in these injuries, too, there is so much bone damage to the hand as well. Like, you just end up with just a mangled mess of bone and tissue. It's not even like if a finger is completely severed, yes, you can reattach that. But these explosions are just maiming the entire hand. And there's not much to attach it to. The ligaments are gone. The bones are gone. I mean, it's just completely destroyed. Right. It's not a bandsaw where you lop off a couple and they're in great condition with covered a little bit of sawdust. And you've got two kind of stumps where fingers were and you just run to the emergency room.

18:41You're right. Yeah, I didn't think about that. Yeah. Graphic. Yeah, maybe put a warning at the top of this one. I think so. No kids in the car for this one, folks. What? Am I too late? So, yeah. All right. So if somebody says, OK, well, I use them safely and that won't happen to me. Why should I stop using fireworks? Because other people, dumb kids get hurt or their dumb adults get hurt. And a lot of people think that about 15 ,600 people per year think that. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's not the same 15 ,000 people going to the emergency room every year. I mean, I'm sure there's a few repeat customers.

19:17And I'd love to see the data on that. I guarantee you there's plenty of everything. Like a Venn diagram? A Venn diagram of been here before, you know, type of situation? Yes. Hi, if I blow off another finger, I get a free, yeah, like a punch card. I was just going to say a punch card. One more finger and I get a free vasectomy. Yeah.

19:37So, honestly, they're problematic for several reasons. Look, both commercial and consumer fireworks disrupt communities, right? Veterans of war obviously suffer a lot of psychological damage with PTSD. That's a real issue. Sure. Fireworks torture pets and kill immeasurable numbers of wildlife, animals, and insects. The list goes on. Fireworks start fires, of course, and especially here on the West Coast in California. It's a big problem every summer. Fireworks actually emit metals into the air. See, that I didn't know. That I never thought about. Yeah. And then an often overlooked con, the packaging.

20:14Okay. It's actually steeped in racist stereotypes. Racist plastic packaging. I didn't even realize fireworks have been racist the whole time. Now, why am I just not surprised at all, though? It's bad. Like, it's so bad. And some of it's still out there. Some of it was very recent. I mean, it's pretty easy to find things. At least within the last few years, there were things called red engine fireworks. Oh, man. China Boy. There's one called Dixie Boys. it was wrapped in like Confederate paper. It was like - Oh, gotcha. All right. You gotta see the packaging of the, I'm gonna stop saying it, but you just gotta go look.

20:51And it's not just the names, the images on there, trust me, they're offensive. And because I don't wanna be caught on tape saying something any worse, it could be used against me out of context. I've included a link if people wanna go see how problematic this is. It's KLAQ.com's full list and I've got it in the show notes. So people will be able to see it for themselves. Ironic because again, I think most of these are made in China anyway. With all that, there are still fireworks going off somewhere in the United States every single night, I would imagine, including my backyard, because one of my neighbors is a drunk moron.

21:23But let's hear about the pros, if they exist. I mean, they're fun. They really are. Okay. Okay. Pros. Sure. Okay. Fireworks momentarily distract that primitive part of our lizard brain with one or two seconds of shiny lights and big booms. End of list. That's a really lame way of saying super fun, but okay. When you're a kid and you have no sense of consequences whatsoever, they're extra fun. I think now as an adult, I'd be a little bit more wary. When I was younger, I was like, let's see how long I can hold onto this while the fuse goes as low as I'll let it before I drop it. I guess it's just another billion dollar industry that's bad for the environment, offers no real benefits.

22:05This is probably a little bit more philosophical than we're used to on the show, but why do humans engage with this spectacle so often? Did we look into that at all? Yeah. So there's some psychology based reasons that make sense of human fascinations with explosives, especially explosives in the sky. Okay. And I was a little surprised to learn how old fireworks are. The first ones are from 200 BC. Really? When people realized that like hollow bamboo would pop and explode when you throw it into a fire. Oh, wow. And apparently they got a real kick out of that fireside entertainment and we haven't evolved much in that way and still today the fear that fireworks conjures actually fascinates us daniel glazer who's a neuroscientist in the uk he says the reason we enjoy fireworks is because they frighten us like lightning or the bright flashes or whatever like the bright flash of a lightning kind of warns us that something's coming and then boom you had this clap of the thunder or this hollow pop of a firework like it's about to happen and here it comes.

23:06This activates our amygdala, the little ball of nerves inside the brain that detects fear. And after the lights have stimulated that anticipation of a threat, the preceding boom of the firework confirms this perception in our brains. And in response, our reward centers release a surge of dopamine, which is the chemical that regulates pleasure. So we kind of torture ourselves on purpose. Huh. But why does something that we fear end up entertaining us? Well, if you think about it like horror movies right haunted houses screaming at people when we jump out to scare them these are things that are very popular i mean glazer says that unlike the fear of the unknown fireworks induced fear is controlled and that's kind of the point it's simply the predictability of the fireworks the bang follows the flash and it rewards us with a shot of dopamine pretty colors in the sky and he explains that people seem to be excited by the anticipation of a slightly scary experience.

24:05And fireworks repeatedly set up this expectation over and over. And each flash, like, generates this anticipation of a bang, and then that satisfaction seems to be what's so exciting about the entire fireworks display. Is there anything wrong with humans continuing to create these manufactured feelings? I mean, this is, again, I'm going down like a philosophical rabbit hole here, but... Yeah, I mean, people like the tradition. what's the 4th of July without that sound and even the smell and the bright lights flashing in the sky right and what's the end of a fun day at Disneyland without the magical explosions in the sky what would Beyonce's concert in Dubai be like would it be as spectacular without her million dollar fireworks display you know I mean you think Beyonce would be enough fireworks know what I mean but I think I mean I'd buy a firecracker if she were on the label I'd start smoking cigarettes if you're on the label.

24:59What about all of these cons? Do they really add up to anything? Okay, look, so like many issues facing our society, we know the negatives, right? Smoking causes cancer. People still smoke. Obesity and a shitty diet will kill you. People still eat shitty and don't exercise. Most of the cons surrounding fireworks, people have heard before. They're quite damning when you list them all together, and maybe this podcast will make somebody shift gears and stop messing with this stuff. But there's no way you can take away tradition and habit just like that. I mean, fireworks are like flags. Every country has them and they're patriotic depending on which borders they fly in.